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A Morabia

Publications and source records attributed to A Morabia.

150 records · Page 9Linked to original sources
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Community-based surveillance of cardiovascular risk factors in Geneva: methods, resulting distributions, and comparisons with other populations.

OBJECTIVES: This paper presents the results of an ongoing community-based surveillance program of cardiovascular risk factors in Geneva, Switzerland, using percentiles with their associated 95% confidence intervals and compares the Genevan results with published data from international surveys reporting percentiles. METHODS: A random survey of adults ages 35 to 74 years was conducted from 1993 to 1994. Confidence intervals for percentiles based on parametric and non-parametric methods are given. RESULTS: The distribution of total cholesterol was shifted upward with increasing age. The median reached a maximum at 55-64 years among men (5.7 mmol/L) and at 65-74 years among women (5.9 mmol/L), and remained relatively stable thereafter. In both genders, systolic and, less so, diastolic blood pressure increased progressively with advancing age. The median daily energy intake among men declined from 2,390 kcal at age 35-44 years to 2,169 kcal at age 65-74 years, while among women it remained stable at about 1,900 kcal. In both males and females, the relative intake of saturated fat was stable throughout life (14 to 13%). The median body mass index (BMI) was about 25 kg/m2 across all age groups among men, but increased with age among women, with a peak of 23.6 kg/m2 occurring at ages 65-74 years. Compared with U.S. and western European surveys, Genevan men and women had lower total plasma cholesterol and Genevan women tended to have lower BMIs. CONCLUSIONS: Percentiles with their associated precision appear particularly well suited for international comparison of surveillance data. They could be used in the future to monitor shifts in distributions resulting from mass prevention strategies.

Adult↗
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Smoking behavior in a Swiss urban population: the role of gender and education.

BACKGROUND: Smoking has become more prevalent among U.S. men and women and European men in lower socioeducational groups. The relation between socioeducational status and smoking among European women has been studied less. METHODS: A survey assessing the smoking behavior and educational level of 943 women and 961 men ages 35 to 74 years from Geneva, Switzerland, was conducted. RESULTS: The prevalence of never smokers has declined among younger women but has remained stable among men. More men than women have ever smoked, but the difference has decreased among younger generations. Ever smoking was more prevalent among women with secondary (47.6%, age-adjusted OR 2.03, 95% CI 1.29 to 3.18) or tertiary (46.6%, age-adjusted OR 1.83, 95% CI 1.13 to 2.97) education relative to women with primary education (30.7%). Among males, ever smoking was slightly more prevalent among lower levels of education. There were moderate differences in quit ratio (ex-smokers/ever smokers) across educational levels among women (trend P = 0.08). In contrast, men with tertiary education stopped smoking more often (63.6%) than those with secondary (54.2%) or primary (47.6%) education (trend P = 0.008). For most women, primary education was associated with a later age at start of smoking while the inverse was true for men. CONCLUSION: Smoking behavior is evolving across generations of women in Geneva. It is more prevalent among educated women of the older generations, but this is less so among the younger generations. Women from Geneva may be currently experiencing the transition of smoking from upper to lower social classes.

Adult↗
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Case-control studies in clinical research: mechanism and prevention of selection bias.

The mechanism by which selection bias occurs in case-control studies is explained to an audience of clinicians using a simple conceptual framework and a graphical presentation. A case-control study consists in comparing the frequency of exposure in a group of subjects having the studied disease (the cases) relative to another group free of that disease (the controls). Cases and controls can be thought of as arising from a hypothetical cohort study. Thus, enrolled cases are a fraction F1 of the exposed who developed the disease plus a fraction F3 of the unexposed who developed the disease during a given period. Similarly, enrolled controls are a fraction F2 of the exposed who did not develop disease plus a fraction F4 of the unexposed who did not develop the disease. A selection process is inherent to the design of case-control studies but it leads to selection bias only when the ratio of F1 x F4/F2 x F3 is not equal to unity. Examples demonstrate the implication of sampling fractions for designing and interpreting case-control studies performed in clinical settings.

Case-Control Studies↗
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Relationship between etiological factors and total motile sperm count in 350 infertile patients.

The prevalence of different etiologic factors has been evaluated in 350 male patients consulting the same physician in an urban, ambulatory setting for primary or secondary infertility of more than 1 year. Environmental factors such as alcohol or drugs represented 12% of the etiologies, acquired diseases such as varicocele and prostatitis 40%, congenital diseases and primary testicular failure 16.2%, idiopathic cases 19.4%, and abnormality of sperm transport 7.4%. The severity of sperm alterations in the different etiologic categories was evaluated by the total motile sperm count per ejaculate (TMS) (normal > 16). The TMS was less than 5 in classical causes of male infertility such as testicular failure, endocrinopathy, cancer, or antisperm antibodies. It was more than 10 in controversial causes of infertility such as varicocele, prostatis, chlamydial infections, and professional exposure to heat. After treatment, there was a nonsignificant increase of the TMS in the latter cases. In cases of azoospermia of pituitary origin, the TMS was normalized by a hormonal treatment. In some cases of azoospermia of possible obstructive origin, sperm appeared in the ejaculate after diclofenac treatment. The utility of andrological investigation and treatment is discussed.

Adult↗
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Thyroid hormones and duration of ovulatory activity in the etiology of breast cancer.

We conducted the present study with the hypothesis that conflicting reports on the association between mild hypothyroidism and breast cancer may be due to failure to consider the potential interaction between thyroid and ovarian hormones. Seventy-three cases of breast cancer and 75 hospital controls were studied. The overall matched multivariate odds ratio of breast cancer for the lowest tertile of free T4 (< or = 1.10 ng/dl) versus the two other tertiles was 1.7 (95% confidence limits, 0.6-5.0). However, there was a statistically significant linear trend (P = 0.04) in the odds ratios for breast cancer related to subnormal free T4 levels across tertiles of duration of ovulatory activity. These results suggest that women combining low levels of circulating free T4 with long duration of ovulatory activity may be at increased risk for this disease.

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